Aqui is anywhere we choose to call home

Jacqueline Negreros draws upon her parents’ experience as immigrants in Aquí Is Anywhere We Choose to Call Home to highlight themes of tradition, immigration, and assimilation conveyed through memories shared by the artist and her family. She uses food as a metaphorical device to probe cultural attitudes of authenticity and otherness through ingredients that remain traditional and those that have grown with her. Aquí centers around the communal preparation of barbacoa de pozo – from its roots in her parents’ village of Zacapala, Puebla, Mexico to its evolution into barbacoa al vapor, using a steam pot, adapted from her family’s life in the United States. Through printmaking and sculpture, Negreros explores the duality immigrants contend with after leaving their homeland for a new nation and how customs can evolve across generations. Rice embossed paper depicts objects fundamental to the preparation of this meal and signifies cultural and familial traditions. Veils sewn from guaje seed pods and arranged carizzo stalks are relics from the landscape of Zacapala. Collected around Corpus Christi and considered invasive, they form a border between belonging and otherness. El pozo in the middle of the gallery is the portal by which everything enters or emerges, a point of origin. Comprised of dirt from the Texas Mexico border and sand from the beach at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, El pozo merges physical spaces from the past and present for experiences to coexist. La Pancita signifies matriarchal bonds and the importance of ritual. The installation and preparation of this meal create an intimate view into the artist’s use of food to traverse time, and this supporting paper serves as an archive of her family history and this important recipe.